![[Off-Center] Ian Daly: I feel like I’ve lived a thousand lifetimes and never would have expected where this journey has taken me](https://media.iqads.ro/2022/09/fotojet20-cover-850.jpg)
Ian Daly doesn't like the phrase "where life takes you”. Even if there are moments when we can't see forward, he believes that we should trust our instincts and control who we are. Ian has been writing about culture since 2003, when he was senior writer for Details at Conde Nas. His stories and essays have also appeared in The New York Times, Esquire, GQ, Men’s Journal, Popular Science, and The Poetry Foundation. He then spent seven years in leading strategic roles at various advertising agencies in New York and Los Angeles. Ian DJs under the name REFRAKT, which layers sounds and melodies into a hypnotic mixture of dark disco, melodic techno, and world beats, transporting the listener through modulations and feedback loops.
On a personal level, I’ve always been one who sits slightly outside of, examines, and questions the norm. There is also real power and beauty in embracing life’s chaos and asymmetry, says Ian.
Ian will participate at UNFINISHED, from September 29th to October 2nd. The theme of the 2022 edition of the festival is OFF-CENTER. Artists, anthropologists, architects, philosophers, entrepreneurs and thinkers from various domains will explore the idea of decentering from multiple angles, approaches, and mediums. The festival will emerge from an accumulation of “corners” hosting a multitude of experiences - yoga sessions, key-notes, dance workshops, musical moments, art instalations, conversations and performances.
We talked with Ian, before the festival, about journalism, music and the creative community.
Defining moments in your becoming
I feel like I’ve lived a thousand lifetimes and never would have expected where this journey has taken me. I don’t like the phrase “where life takes you” because WE take our lives forward. It’s just that we might not be able to see past the first and second moves. And the lesson for me has been, that’s okay. You don’t know what your headspace is going to be in 5 years so trust your instinct in the here and now.
Searching for the truth
I began my career as a journalist, and it’s been disturbing to watch what’s happened to my profession. Obviously digital has disrupted print but our attention spans for anything other than binge watching has also become scarily short. The real issue is that people seem less and less able to distinguish truth from fiction - nor do they even want to. So I’m in music now, because I think there’s a Truth there, to connecting with humans through music and bringing people together, that’s more primal and pre-conscious than journalism. And I still get a high from seeking and sharing a deeper Truth.
What are the questions that preoccupy you at the moment
I am so consumed with the rapidly declining state of our Earth right now that every other so-called noble pursuit feels a little like making a sandwich when your house is on fire. But I am lucky to be surrounded by a lot of smart people who haven’t given up and are relentlessly seeking new and innovative ways to make this world better. I’m also inspired by the global resurgence of the psychedelic movement and I believe that, as world leaders move to destigmatize and decriminalize these substances, many hold the key to unlocking ourselves, our society, and our environment. They’re not a silver bullet but they are, as Steve Jobs said, “a bicycle for the mind.”
Unfinished
Bringing creative people together from all walks of life to talk about things that matter is our only hope to solve the biggest issues facing us today (it also happens to be an incredibly joyous and inspiring thing to be a part of or even just to observe). This has always been the mission of Unfinished. And the process might be messy but in that mess is where the learning lives.
What does Off-Center mean to you
On a personal level, I’ve always been one who sits slightly outside of, examines, and questions the norm. There is also real power and beauty in embracing life’s chaos and asymmetry. Off-center, to me, is just a valuable POV from which we can evolve and progress.
Your centering resources
Meditation, music, kundalini, psychedelics, cave diving, the outdoors, and motorcycles.
The biggest societal challenges in 2022, from a creator's perspective
One thing I’ve been thinking a lot about is how art and music are often (and arguably, increasingly) employed for distraction rather than contemplation and progress. How do we as creators orient our work to serve the latter versus the former? Without it feeling like kitsch or propaganda? That's a question I ask myself every time I make something new.
How do you feel the influence of these times
I’ve learned lately that community is absolutely everything. The incredible human beings around me saved me - again and again - throughout these last few years.
A title for the present
Metamorphosis !
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